Threading arrangement for spinning and twisting machines

ABSTRACT

A THREAD SPINNING OR TWISTING APPARATUS WHEREIN A THREAD IS DRAWN UP OFF A YARN PACKAGE ON A HOLLOW CORE, THEN PASSED AXIALLY DOWN THROUGH THE CORE AND TWISTED BY A FLYER ROTATING ABOUT THE CORE AXIS AND BENEATH THE YARN PACKAGE. THE THREAD IS FINALLY LED AXIALLY UP BETWEEN THE PACKAGE AND A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY CONTINUOUS (UNBROKEN AND UNINTERRUPTED) SLEEVE COAXIAL THEREWITH A FORMING THEREWITH AN ANNULAR BALLON-CONFINING SPACE. A THREADING ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING AN UPWARDLY DIRECTED CONCAVE NOZZLE ACTUATABLE BY A KNEE OR FOOT VALVE DIRECTS A GAS STREAM UP IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE PACKAGE AND THE SLEEVE TO PROJECT THE THREAD THERETHROUGH.

Jan. 5, 1971 3,552,111

THREADING ARRANGEMENT FOR SPINNING AND TWISTING MACHINES A. TREUS AL Filed April 23, 1969 United States Patent US. Cl. 5758.49 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A thread spinning or twisting apparatus wherein a thread is drawn up off a yarn package wound on a hollow core, then passed axially down through the core and twisted by a flyer rotating about the core axis and beneath the yarn package. The thread is finally led axially up between the package and a circumferentially continuous (unbroken and uninterrupted) sleeve coaxial therewith and forming therewith an annular balloon-confining space. A threading arrangement comprising an up- Wardly directed concave nozzle actuatable by a knee or foot valve directs a gas stream up in the space between the package and the sleeve to project the thread therethrough.

Our present invention relates to thread twisting or spinning apparatus, and, more particularly, to a threading arrangement for such devices.

A very common type of thread spinning apparatus makes use of a nonrotatable yarn or thread package Wound on an elongated hollow core mounted above a rotatable flyer.

Surrounding this flyer and package is a balloon-confining sleeve, usually provided with a slit and defining a narrow annular gap between itself and the yarn package. The thread is pulled off the package, and then fed through a :braking device in the hollow core and through a radial bore in the flyer. Thereafter it winds one or more times around a storage drum on the flyer and passes radially outwardly and thence upwardly through the gap to form its balloon. Thereupon it passes through a thread guide, is combined with a second thread from another yarn package and is picked up as twisted thread on a bobbin or the like.

When loading a yarn package into such an apparatus, the threading of the yarn or thread up between the package and the sleeve is time consuming and difficult.

One solution to this problem has been to provide the sleeve with the substantially vertical slit mentioned earlier so that even nonskilled operating personnel can quickly and easily thread the device. However, such a slit scrapes the thread in its balloon and causes a rather wasteful and dangerous build up of dust.

It is therefore the principal object of our present invention to provide a thread twisting apparatus which overcomes this disadvantage.

More generally speaking, it is an object of our invention to provide simple threading means for a thread twisting apparatus of the character described.

We attain the above and other objects in accordance with features of our invention, by providing a thread twisting apparatus with a threading arrangement including a nozzle which directs a gas stream upwardly between the yarn package and sleeve. To thread the yarn through the device, the operator lays it over the nozzle andit is then simply blown up through the sleeve when the control valve is triggered.

According to a further feature of our invention the nozzle has an elongated nozzle opening having an arcuate shape with the same center of curvature as the space between the yarn package and the sleeve and a radius of curvature where r is the inner radius of the annular space and R is the outer radius thereof (and the inner radius of the balloon-controlling sleeve).

Yet another feature of our invention provides for an upwardly concave nozzle in which the thread can easily be caught before threading. In all cases, the sleeve is circumferentially continuous and uninterrupted and is, therefore, free from the slit mentioned earlier.

A particular advantageous feature of our invention is that a valve is provided between a source of compressed air, such as a compressor, and the nozzle. This valve, which can be actuated by the knee or foot of the machine operator to thread the apparatus, is preferably of the selfholding type and remains in the open position until closed by the operator, thereby allowing free use of the operators hands.

Because of the above-described and other features of our present invention, our thread-spinning or twisting apparatus presents very little dilficulty to thread, thereby cutting operation costs substantially. These features, objects, and advantages will be more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectionthrough a thread twisting apparatus according to our present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail top view of the nozzle of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the nozzle taken in the direction of arrow III of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, a yarn package 3 wound on a hollow, frustoconical core 2 is' set on a spindle 1 lying along an axis A. A thread 4 from the package 3 runs through a thread guide 5 rotatable on the spindle 1 and led into an upper end 6 of this spindle 1. A thread tensioning or braking device as described in the commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 810,464, filed Mar. 26, 1969, by Aloys. Greive and Aloys Treus and entitled Method of and Apparatus for Spinning and Treating Thread, or as in US. Pat. No. 2,718,363, serves to tension the thread 4 for constant regularity of twist. In general, the apparatus may be the double-thread twisting type described in this patent.

A flyer rotatable about the axis A consisting of a storage drum 7 below the spindle 1 and an upwardly diverging frustoconical throw-01f disk 10 of greater diameter than the package 3 are integrally connected 'with a rotatable pulley 26 which is rotatably mounted on a shaft 28 fixed on a support 12 and which can be a drive arrangement as described in the commonly assigned application Ser. No. 814,065, filed Apr. 7, 1969, by Aloys Greive and entitled Belt-Type Drive Arrangement for Spinning Machines and the Like. The thread 4, after passing through the spindle 1, passes radially out through a radial bore or eye 7a in the drum 7, winds around it several times, and then rises in a balloon-confining space 9 between a lower edge 13 and an upper edge 18 of a slightly frustoconical sleeve 8 and a can 27 surrounding and containing the package 3. The sleeve 8 is circumferentially continuous and free from any threading slit.

The yarn package 3 is prevented from rotating by magnets as in the above-cited Pat. No. 2,718,363, and the sleeve 8 also is nonrotatable. Thus, only the flyer 7, 10 rotates.

A nozzle 14, connected via a conduit and a valve 16 to a compressor 29 is nonrotatably fixed below the lower edge 13 of the sleeve 8 and directs a gas stream 21 upwardly in the space 9 along a generatrix of the sleeve. As better shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 this nozzle 14 has a nozzle opening 22 with a curvature 23 centered on the axis of the space 9 and a radius of curvature iii 2 where R is the inner radius of sleeve 8 and r is the inner radius of the space. The upper surface 24 of the nozzle is cylindrically concave upwardly to prevent a thread from sliding off prior to threading (see FIG. 2).

When a new, full yarn package 3 needs to be placed over the spindle 1 to replace a used-up one, the following procedure is followed:

The core 2 is dropped over the spindle l and the thread 4 guided through the eye 5 by hand and through the spindle 1 and brake by means of a conventional threading wire. Then the thread or filament is laid over the nozzle 14 as shown by the dot-wash line 19 in FIG. 1, and 25 in FIGS. 2 and 3. Then a button 17 or similar operating means is actuated by the foot, knee, or leg of the operator to open the valve 16. This sends a blast of air at a pressure of between 3 and 6 atmospheres up in the space 9 to thread the filament along the position shown by dashed line 20. A further actuation of the button 17 closes the valve. Thence the thread 4 is fed to some suitable take-up device, such as a bobbin. The valve 16 is of the self-holding type so that, once opened, it remains open until closed by the operator.

Such a threading arrangement is particularly useful with so-called fan brakes in the spindle. In this case the thread end of the yarn package is merely placed in the top of the spindle and suction created by the rotating flyer pulls it through the spindle.

In practice many such devices are mounted in banks on a common support 12 under the control of one operator. In such a system with simple threading a suizable increase in etficiency is realised.

We claim:

1. In a thread spinning or twisting apparatus wherein a thread is drawn 011? a yarn package wound on an upright hollow core then passed axially in one direction through the core and twisted by a flyer rotating about the axis and finally led axially in the opposite direction up between the package and a balloon-controlling upright sleeve coaxial with and spacedly surrounding the package to form an annular balloon-confining space therearound, the improvement which includes a threading arrangement for said apparatus, comprising nozzle means adjacent the bottom of said space for directing a gas stream in said opposite direction between said package and said sleeve for projecting said thread axially through said space.

2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wehrein said nozzle means further comprises a nozzle having an elongated upwardly directed nozzle opening.

3. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein said nozzle opening is curved and has a radius of curvature corresponding to the average radius of said space and centered on said sleeve.

4. The improvement defined in claim 3 wherein said noule has an upwardly directed cylindrically concave surface.

5. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzle means includes a source of compressed gas, and upwardly directed nozzle, conduit means interconnecting said nozzle and said source, and valve means in said conduit means for blocking fluid flow in same.

6. The improvement defined in claim 5 wherein said valve means has an open and a closed position, said valve means being self-locking in the open position.

7. The improvement defined in claim 5 wherein said valve means includes a valve and means for actuation of said valve by the leg of the operating person.

8. The improvement defined in claim 1 wehrein said flyer and said nozzle are disposed below said core.

9. The improvement defined in claim 8 wherein said flyer comprises a substantially cylindrical drum and a throw-01f disk both coaxial with said core, said drum being formed with a radial bore communicating with the interior of said core.

10. The improvement defined in claim 9 wherein said disk is frustoconical and converges downwardly toward said drum and has an outer periphery with a diameter greater than the diameter of said yarn package and less than the diameter of said sleeve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,962,265 6/1934 Wenzel 5734.5 3,159,967 12/1964 Franzen 5758.49 3,323,299 6/1967 Heimes 5758.83 3,333,407 8/1967 Bruin et al. 57--106 XR 3,360,915 1/1968 Franzen 5758.49 3,410,071 11/1968 Heimes 5758.49

DONALD E. WILKINS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5758.7, 106 

